The School

Ermysted’s Grammar School can trace its origins to the last decade of the 15th century, possibly 1476 but certainly before 1492 as a chantry school founded by Peter Toller adjoining the Skipton Parish Church. It was refounded after the dissolution on a different site in 1548 by William Ermysted, Master of the Temple and Canon Residentiary of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and it moved to its present site in 1876.  Throughout its history it has been an all boys’ school and only relatively recently, in 1989, was the boarding house closed, an inevitable consequence of the burgeoning demand for day boy places and the spiraling costs of residential accommodation.

The pleasant market town of Skipton serves a large surrounding rural area, mainly in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, immediately to the North. Skipton, together with the immediate surroundings, is an appealing place to live offering a wide variety of sporting and cultural activities. Large towns, such as Harrogate, Leeds, Bradford and Manchester are relatively close and are easily accessible by road and rail. Leeds Bradford Airport is only forty minutes away from Skipton. 

The School occupies a green and wooded site about half a mile from the centre of Skipton on the main route from the town leading to the A65 and to Settle and the Lake District.  The original 1876 stone buildings have been added to over the years and in 1994 a handsome new Sports Hall, funded by generous donations from parents and Old Boys and from a variety of other sources, was opened to commemorate the school’s quincentenary of its Founder's death.  For many of its sporting activities the School uses an extensive area of sports fields about a mile away owned by North Yorkshire County Council.

In December 2003, HRH The Duke of Kent, opened a new building, built at a cost of £1.3 million, which houses vastly improved facilities for Technology in addition to providing a base for the English Department and a further ICT Room. Aided by finance from the Local Authority and a generous donation of £40,000 from the Wolfson Foundation, the former CDT facilities have been transformed into two much needed Physics laboratories and each science laboratory has been refurbished. As with the Technology block, these projects were completed and in use in September 2003.

More recently, an area previously used as a small indoor swimming pool has been transformed into a new facility for the Music Department and at Easter 2007, a new Refectory was brought into use, replacing a facility that dated back to the last war.

In September 2007 the School gained Specialist Status in Science. One of the many benefits of this successful bid was additional funding for a new Science Laboratory.  This project has now been completed as has work on what was previously the old gymnasium and more recently a Sixth Form Common Room. Over the summer period this building was transformed into a facility housing two additional computer rooms and two classrooms. During the first half of the Autumn Term 2007, staff workrooms for both Science and Mathematics staff were completed. Further plans are in the pipe-line to develop the Library facilities to ensure that they are worthy of a school such as Ermysted’s.

Selection procedures in Skipton require all in-catchment children to take NFER Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning standardised tests. As a result, 28% (boys and girls) of the local school population at 11+ are identified and attend Ermysted’s Grammar School or Skipton Girls’ High School. On occasions in recent years, successful appeals have pushed the overall percentage up to 32%. Due to the building projects that have taken place in recent years, the school capacity has grown with the net effect that the Governors opted for a four-form entry of 112, effective from September 2003. Currently the School has 715 boys on roll (167 in the Sixth Form), who come from the town of Skipton, from the neighbouring villages and now, increasingly, from the towns of Ilkley, Keighley, Barnoldswick, Earby and Colne.  The School is Voluntary Aided and is maintained by North Yorkshire County Council. 

Applications for September 2008 were up on previous years, partly as a result of parents being informed of the outcome of the testing procedure before they were required to complete the Common Application Form. As a result, all 112 places for Year 7 entry in the next school year are likely to be taken up. The number on roll in September 2009, when the four-form entry has filtered through the school, is expected to be in the region of 750.
 
The School enjoys an enviable reputation in the field of academic excellence and prides itself on providing a disciplined, caring environment in which each pupil can develop his talents to the fullest potential. Inter-school fixtures, sport, music, debating and drama are just a few of the many fields in which pupils are encouraged to participate. An annual Y10 German exchange to a school in Simbach-am-Inn (Skipton’s twin town), visits to World War II battlefields and skiing trips to France and a bi-annual field trip to Iceland for our Sixth Form geographers are notable additions to the many subject based trips organised by Departments.

Academic record

Within the state sector, both the school’s GCSE and Advanced Level results are amongst the most successful nationally and with the advent of the official and unofficial league tables of academic results in recent years, Ermysted’s has cemented for itself a place in the very top echelon of state schools. In the latest OfSTED inspection report (October 2005), the inspectors reported that “Ermysted’s Grammar School is a good school with an outstanding Sixth Form. Students enter the school with well above average standards of attainment and this is maintained throughout Key Stages 3 and 4. Standards in the Sixth form are exceptionally high.” In last year’s KS3 Performance Tables (issued on 1 March 2007), Ermysted’s were placed 4th nationally in terms of pupils performance across the three core subjects, (scoring 299/300) and within the top 5% of state schools nationally when value added scores were compared.   2008 results show achievement well above national figures.

National Comparisons

The Yorkshire Post (11 January 2007) under the headline Ermysted’s leads way with best A-level tally reported that “A state school has beaten off competition from Yorkshire’s prestigious private schools to have the best A-Level results in the region. The latest secondary school league tables show Ermysted’s Grammar School in Skipton had the best A-Level results in Yorkshire last summer and was in the top 25 schools in England.”

Nearly all our Y11 students continue into further education, the vast majority remaining at Ermysted's in order to study for Advanced Level qualifications. In addition, every year, between 15 to 20 boys join the Sixth Form from other schools. Around 95% of students eventually proceed to university each year. Following the publication of A-Level results last August, seven pupils had their offers of a place at either of the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge confirmed. 

School Routine

The school week is based upon 40 teaching periods (20 x 35 minutes, 20 x 40 minutes) spread over five days. The school day starts with registration at 8.45am and finishes at 3.45pm. September 2004 saw the school day moved to a four-four split in terms of lessons as opposed to the five-three split that was previously in place. This was brought about through increased collaboration at Sixth Form Level between our sister school, Skipton Girls’ High School and ourselves. There is a formal half-school assembly on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and year assemblies on the remaining two days.

The Curriculum

In pursuit of the aims of the School, the curriculum is organised in such a way as to meet the demands of the National Curriculum. In Years 7, 8 and 9, the curriculum is broad and balanced, giving the opportunity for study well beyond the requirements of the National Curriculum. All boys study separate sciences from Year 7. All boys in Year 7 start both French and German with the introduction of Latin in Year 8. It is expected that all boys attempt 10 full subjects at GCSE at the age of 16+. From September 2004, Mathematics, English Language and Literature and separate sciences (or Dual Award Science for a small number), provide the compulsory subjects and three or four option subjects are chosen from Art and Design, French, Geography, German, History, Latin, Music, Physical Education, Religious Studies and Design Technology. Further to these subjects, a compulsory course in ICT (AiDA) for Year 10 and 11 pupils was introduced in September 2005.

In September, 75% of Y12 students chose to study 4 AS subjects (from a choice of twenty-one) with a requirement that all will follow at least three subjects at A2 in the next academic year. The Sixth Form curriculum is supplemented by a course in General Studies which provides an optional additional A-Level, which the majority of boys take. Further to these, an increasing number of students are entered for the Advanced Extension Awards. As indicated earlier, recently there has been a degree of collaboration with Skipton Girls’ High for some AS / A-Level subjects. This year this encompasses PE, RE, Classical Civilisation (taught at Ermysted’s) and Government and Politics, Music, Theatre Studies and Archaeology (taught at SGHS).

Pastoral

The School places considerable emphasis on the care of its pupils. There is a well-established and effective pastoral care structure with most staff having the opportunity to be form tutors. The general academic progress and all matters of pastoral care are, in the first instance, the concern of the Form Tutor who consults with or refers boys to the Head/Assistant Head of Junior School (Years 7 to 9), Head/Assistant Head of Middle School (Years 10 and 11), the Head / Assistant Heads of Sixth Form or the Headteacher as occasion demands. In Years 7 to 9, forms are arranged randomly having no reference to academic ability and this general principle remains throughout the School.  In Years 10 and 11 groups are arranged in terms of ability for English and Mathematics only, while for the option subjects when there is more than one set, the arrangements are determined by subject choices which the boys make and by the desire to keep teaching groups as equal in number as possible. 

Sixth Formers are under the pastoral guidance of a tutor, who will oversee their progression through the normal two years of Sixth Form study. Tutor groups are, wherever possible, determined by subject choices.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Physical Education and team games occupy a high profile and the School has an enviable record in inter-school competition and in its representation at district and county level. The main school sports are Rugby, Cross Country and Cricket though as pupils progress through the School, the sporting opportunities available to them increase. During the last school year, both our Junior and Intermediate Cross Country team reached the finals of the England Schools’ Cross Country Championships. Last year, the Intermediate team again reached the finals, being placed second overall – a magnificent feat in a national competition, entered initially by over 400 schools. In March 2007, our first XV rugby squad beat Wilmslow High School by three points to nil to win the Daily Mail Under 18 (Vase) Competition, the final being played at Twickenham. Further success came the way of our first XI football squad who beat Scarborough Sixth Form College (1 – 0) to win the Yorkshire Schools and Colleges Cup. They also qualified for the Harrogate and Craven Area Schools Final.

The Memorial Hall houses a three manual pipe organ and musical activities, both instrumental and choral, involve large numbers of boys and staff. Our Senior Big Band regularly go on tour to Simbach. Our annual drama production which usually takes place during the Spring Term, has in recent years been shared with SGHS.

A full range of sporting and cultural activities is available to our boys and the majority of members of staff volunteer their time and expertise to foster the extra-curricular life of the School. Assistance and expertise in these areas from new members of Staff is always most welcome.

The Parents’  Association

The relationship between the School and its parent body is excellent. The Parents’ Association exists to support the School in its many different functions and it organises a full and varied programme of events throughout the year. The fund raising so successfully undertaken by the Parents’ Association allows it to purchase additional equipment for the School amounting to several thousands of pounds on an annual basis.

The Old Boys’ Society

As with the Parents’ Association, the relationship between the School and the Old Boys’ Society is extremely strong. The Society supports the School in numerous ways, not least financially.  Former pupils and staff are invited to join and many see the Society as a way of keeping in touch with friends, many of whom are now living overseas.   

Founders’ Day is held annually on the last Saturday of the Autumn Term with a service held in Holy Trinity Church in Skipton commemorating the foundation of the School over five hundred years ago. In the evening there is an Old Boys’ Society Dinner, and this year in excess of 150 former pupils (ranging in ages from 18 to 75) were in attendance. Last June a dinner was organized with invitations being sent to those members of the Society who left Ermysted’s over 40 years ago. Again, it was extremely well supported.

                                                                                                Revised 12 September 2008

'Aiming for Excellence'